Junqueras asks for Trapero's head

BarcelonaWhoever made the decision to disguise two plainclothes agents among the teachers meeting at the Institut Pau Claris did not calculate the effects their discovery would have, in the midst of the Government's crisis with the majority teacher unions. Salvador Illa's partners invariably point to the Director of the Police, Josep Lluís Trapero, as responsible and demand his head. This Saturday, both ERC and the Comuns, essential for governability, have increased pressure on the socialist executive, which from Tuesday must face a new series of strikes in public schools and institutes. "If the director general does not want to resign, it will be up to the President of the Generalitat to dismiss him," stressed the leader of ERC, Oriol Junqueras, from Tàrrega. The leader of the Comuns, Jéssica Albiach, has also called for his dismissal because "the infiltration crosses all red lines".

In the midst of budget negotiations, neither Esquerra nor Comuns have explained whether Trapero's dismissal is a condition for approving the 2026 accounts, but both parties expect Illa to act immediately. For now, the President of the Government maintains confidence in both Trapero and the Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon, who he himself has indicated is the one who must provide all explanations for the case. She will probably have to do so in Parliament, because the majority of the chamber's groups will force her to do so if she does not take the initiative. In a message on X, Parlon has so far limited herself to expressing her confidence in the Mossos d'Esquadra corps and also in its director general.

Junts' reproaches

Among the requests for dismissal is also that of the CUP and that of the main opposition party. "The Mossos must be in the street arresting all those people who want to commit crimes and not treating teachers and professors as if they were criminals," lamented the general secretary of Junts, Jordi Turull. The Junts members, in addition to pointing the finger at Trapero, also demand the dismissal of the Minister of the Interior and the Minister of Education, Esther Niubó (in addition to that of Territory, Sílvia Paneque, for the Cercanías chaos).

"You cannot boast about fighting the far-right and then have your Government attack fundamental rights such as the right of assembly or the right to strike," Turull snapped. "Infiltrating police into teachers' assemblies makes no sense," stated Junqueras, who considers that Trapero has made the Mossos act "in a rather undemocratic way." The disagreements between Junqueras and Trapero are not new: it was ERC who dismissed him as head of the Mossos during the presidency of Pere Aragonès, and the republican president has never forgotten that it was Trapero who, in the 1-O trial, explained the plan he had to detain the government of the Generalitat before the holding of the referendum.